The DramaWiki Manual of Style is a guide that has one objective: Have all editors conform to the same style guidelines. This style guide pertains to all editors, regardless of the type of article an editor handles. The list below are other guides that are specific to the type of articles DramaWiki handles:

Learn to edit on DramaWiki

In Internet 101, it is best to learn the ways of a wiki by analyzing existing articles. If you are new to wiki editing but new to DramaWiki, read about 10 to 20 of the existing articles, in order to form a consensus of how things work on DramaWiki. When reading these articles, look at:

How articles are formatted, and how sections are used.

How images are handled. Note the sizes and quality of the images.

How the synopses are written.

Methods of romanization used.

And especially, notice what you do not see in the articles.

Formatting philosophy

One misconception about the wiki is that wiki pages are free-form. Although the wikitext markup language offers flexibility in formatting a web page like HTML, giving the impression that editors can do anything on a given article, the last thing a wiki can be is free-form. Any well-established wiki site has its own set of style guidelines. Wikipedia has a style guide. MetaWiki has a style guide. Even Wiki.ThePPN has a style guide.

DramaWiki is no different from any other wiki site. Given the fact that DramaWiki hosts content very unique to any other wiki on the Internet, the information sets the style guidelines. This is why the style guidelines for a wiki site do not pertain to DramaWiki articles.

The most common problem on DramaWiki is the battle between the editor and CSS. Editors must not fight the formatting presented by the DramaWiki software. DramaWiki is based on the MetaWiki wiki software package. MetaWiki uses a modern web page concept called cascading style sheets (CSS). The purpose of CSS is to force all content for a given web site to conform to the same style. Style includes font type, font size, width of an article page, spacing between lines, and so on. In other words, every article should have the same look. Some editors are tempted to force their own sense of style into their articles in order to defeat MediaWiki's CSS, such as adding multiple blank lines between sections, or an overuse of tables. There is a logical reason why there is no Microsoft FrontPage for Wiki, or any other GUI/WYSIWYG-based wiki design product.

Using eye-scanning technology, one can sense how web pages are being read. Graphic provided courtesy of useit.com

Scanning is similar to skimming a novel, or skimming through an episode of a TV drama. What readers are more interested in is specific pieces of information. The objective for every article on DramaWiki is for a reader to get the tidbits of information he needs within just a few seconds. The Internet has forced people to digest large amounts of information quickly, so speed reading is of an essence for readers. Editors should not force readers to stick to any given article for minutes at a time. Doing so causes reader fatique. Reader fatique turns readers off not only on an article, but the entire web site.

Here's visual proof of reader fatique. As you can see in the image to the right, most readers' eyes will start from the top and work their way down. The idea behind the data collected in this image is that the longer the article is in length and content, the less likely the reader will actually finish the article. This is why it is vital that the most important piece of information in a DramaWiki article is kept within the first few inches or centimeters of the page. Referring back to the image, the portions in red/orange/yellow were read only within the first 10 to 20 seconds. This is why it is counter-productive to pack any one article with large quantities of text that would take five minutes to read.

Web sites like the New York Times or C-Net want you to stay on a given article for long periods of time. They want you to read the article word-for-word, and look a the hoards of paid advertisements. DramaWiki should then be thought of as the fast-food joint of web sites: come in, get what you came for, and get out! So once again, do not spend long periods of time spiffying up an article.

Style disputes

When either of two styles is acceptable, it is inappropriate for a DramaWiki editor to change from one style to another unless there is some substantial reason for the change. For example, with respect to British spelling as opposed to American spelling, it would only be acceptable to change from American spelling to British spelling if the article concerned a British topic. Revert warring over optional styles is unacceptable; if the article uses colour rather than color, it would be wrong to switch simply to change styles, although editors should ensure that articles are internally consistent (i.e. the word colour is used throughout the article.) If in doubt, defer to the style used by the first major contributor.

If there is a style being used that an editor disagree with, the proper thing to do is to bring the issue up in the article's discussion page. This will give the chance for other editors to chime in their opinions, and eventually take the necessary action (or no action if the dispute is groundless.)

Capitalization

It is a general rule on DramaWiki that we apply the principles of capitalization on romanized artist and TV show names, using the same princples English writers use. Capitalization is the process of capitalizing the first letter in a word. Components of a DramaWiki article requiring capitalization include article names and sections.

It is therefore a DramaWiki policy that the rules of capitalization apply, in that all words, except for internal articles, prepositions and conjunctions, must be capitalized. DramaWiki also does not capitalize most particles used in Asian languages. Please consult DramaWiki's romanization article for the specific language. Briefly, particles used in Asian languages are very similar in use as adpositions and similar components (prepositions, postpositions, circumpositions, conjunctions, etc.) in the English language.

Acronyms, abbreviations and nicknames

An abbreviation is a letter or group of letters, taken from a word or words, and employed to represent them for the sake of brevity. An acronym is a form of abbreviation, where the first letter of each word in a name or statement is put together, again for the sake of brevity. For example, "Co." is the abbreviation for company, while ROYGBIV is an acronym for the colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and yellow). Nicknames are names given to a person when either his real name is too difficult to pronounce, or as a sign of affection by the fans.

Editors should avoid assumptions that the reader is familiar with a particular nickname, acronym or abbreviation. The standard writing style is to always spell out the acronym, abbreviation or full name on the first reference (wikilinked if appropriate) and then use the shortcuts afterwards. This signals to readers to look out for it later in the text and makes it easy for them to refer back to it. For example:

Matsuura Aya appeared in several commercials (CM) for the Japan-based company Seiko EPSON Corporation. Ayaya-chan's CMs appear to have improved sales for EPSON in the Japan electronics market.

Notice that the abbreviation for the word commercial was used once it was defined by a previous sentence. Also notice that the formal name of the company was mentioned in the first sentence; once defined, it is okay to use the company's more common name. And, the artist's nickname was used because the full name was established in the previous sentence, setting the basis that the paragraph is about the artist.

In lengthy articles, it can be helpful to spell out the acronym or abbreviation for the reader again or to rewikify it if it has not been used for a while. It is also not good writing technique to keep using the artist's nickname throughout the article; doing so gives the article a fan-like feel, rather than a formal feel DramaWiki strives for.

When abbreviating a country name, please use periods between the letters. For example, United States should use the abbreviation "U.S."; this is is the more common style in that country. When including a particular country in a list of countries, do not abbreviate the country name (for example, "France and the United States", not "France and the U.S."). And, avoid using abbreviations, acronyms and nicknames that may be offensive to even the smallest of on-line user communities (ex: japs, flips, etc.)

Article names

When creating a new DramaWiki page the article name should conform to the following format:

Articles name should match either the TV show or artist name.

Taglines should be left out of the article name.

Pages that would use the same name must be disambiguated by adding an appropriate specifier:

Song pages should be disambiguated by adding " (song)" to the page name, e.g. Sakura (song)

Image description pages are named after the file name of uploaded image. To avoid technical problems when processing the files, all file names should only use printable ASCII characters, like ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789._-.

Because of technical limitations imposed by the MediaWiki software some characters cannot be used in page names and the first letter of an article name will always be capitalized. As a work-around, you can use the {{DISPLAYTITLE}} magic word to change the displayed page title.

Most special characters are acceptable. Special characters include the dash ("-"), exclamation point ("!"), comma (",") and tilde ("~"). However, the following special characters should be avoided:

The characters # < > [ ] | { } _ have special meanings in Wiki syntax and thus cannot be used in page titles. Furthermore, the non-printable ASCII characters 0–31, the "delete" character 127, or HTML character codes such as &amp; are also non-working.

The underscore ("_") is treated as space (" ") inside the MediaWiki database and therefor displayed as space. To display underscores in the page title you can use the DISPLAYTITLE work-around, for example {{DISPLAYTITLE:some_title_with_UNDERSCORES}}.

Macrons and breves, as is stated in the romanization articles on DramaWiki.

All other formatting issues for article names are covered in the language-specific formatting articles.

Section and field names

A section is the component that provides categorization within an article. A field name is a component that identifies a parameter within an article.

Suggested use of sections

The use of sections in an article is very similar to topics in an outline you would use when putting together a term paper. A section in a wiki article can be thought of as a topic in an outline. All editors of DramaWiki should organize the sections and sub-sections in a logical form, so that all sub-topics fall under a main topic.

Notice that Seasons is the main section, while all the related elements - the seasons themselves - fall under as sub-sections. Also, the fields specific to the season were placed under their respective sub-sections, rather than being placed under the Details section. And, notice that Episodes was turned into sub-sections, and placed under the Season X sub-section. Again, the ideas behind the development of properly organized sections are that:

All major ideas are developed into sections.

A field related to any one idea is placed under its respective section.

Writing a synopsis

A synopsis is a brief piece outlining a TV drama's primary premise. For DramaWiki use, a synopsis should be very brief - no more than two paragraphs, and no more than 150 words. Going along the overall goal of DramaWiki, a synopsis should be quick and easy to read - with a reading time limit of no more than 60 seconds, and written well enough so that a person with knowledge of English as a secondary language can comprehend. Reading time longer than 60 seconds demonstrates several factors about the synopsis:

. The synopsis contains more detailed information about the drama than necessary.

. The editor(s) of the synopsis lacks the understanding of the drama's primary premise.

. The writing is too complicated to comprehend.

Qualifications of writing a synopsis

First off, it is against DramaWiki policies, as well as Internet etiquette in general to copy the work of one web site and paste it into a DramaWiki article. This practice is considered plagiarism. When done on even a small-scale basis, it demonstrates to the readers that DramaWiki editors are incapable of writing its own synopses. It also demonstrates to the readers that the editors have never watched the drama. And even if the editors did watch the drama, it demonstrates that the editors never grasped the primary premise, and isn't qualified to write a synopsis about the drama. Most editors who lack the knowledge of the primary premise have the tendency of writing large, lengthy amounts of text, causing the editor to become a storyteller rather than just telling the reader what the drama is about.

It is a primary preference that all DramaWiki articles contain original writings by its editors. Once editors start copying works from other web sites and other media, DramaWiki basically becomes just a mirror site of the same information that is scattered throughout the Internet. If this is okay with readers, then DramaWiki shouldn't even exist in the first place. The fundamental idea that produced DramaWiki in the first place is for the contents to be written by its own editors.

Therefore, it is best that a drama article be left without a synopsis than to have a synopsis that is either copied or poorly written.

Putting together a concisely written synopsis

Any story can be summarized in 150 words or less. The fall of the Roman Empire can be summarized in 150 words or less. The entire World War II can be summarized in 150 words or less. It is quite easy to achieve such a small synopsis. The editor must first quantify the primary premise of the drama's storyline. In any well-written screenplay, you have one primary premise, followed by several secondary premises. These secondary premises will eventually lead up to the primary premise.

For example, let's take a look at the Japanese drama Great Teacher Onizuka. The primary premise of the story is that Eikichi wants to be Japan's greatest teacher. The conflict here is that Eikichi's demeanor is not what most people would consider being the quality of a proper role model to teens. Despite his lack of glowing credentials, a high school principal sees potential in Eikichi and therefore decides to take a chance with him by hiring him as a homeroom teacher. His warmth and passion for teaching has a positive effect on his pupils. Viewers refer to Onizuka Eikichi as the anti-Kinpachi Sensei.

There you have it: you have the primary premise, along with a one-sentence statement that challenges the premise. And you have a one-sentence statement describing how the primary premise affects the overall storyline. To finish the synopsis, a one-sentence statement makes a comparison to another Japanese drama with similarities or differences. Notice that the synopsis does not include any secondary premises, such as Eikichi's professional relationship with the teachers, relationships with specific students, the supporting artists' conflicts, and so forth. DramaWiki is not concerned about anything other than the primary premise. This is what makes a concise synopsis that is small, and easy to read and understand.

Dates and times

Entering dates

Because dates and times can vary from country to country, DramaWiki must settle down on a format that is to be used by all editors, regardless of the formatting they use in their everyday lives.

Examples of formats, depending on the components of the date being made available:

Year only

Use all digits of the year.

Good examples: 1974

Bad examples: "74" or "'74"

Month only

Use full name of the month.

Good example: Sayako was born in January.

Bad examples: Sayako was born in Jan.

Century

Address a century as a century, or use all the digits of the century followed by an "s". Okay to use ordinal suffixes. Do not add apostrophes before the "s".

Good example: 20th century or 1900s

Bad examples: 1900's

Decade

Address a decade using all digits of the decade, and without an apostrophe before the "s".

Good example: 1970s

Bad example: 1970's, 70's, 70s.

Year and month

Situation 1: Referencing the date in a complete sentence. Spell the month in its entirety, followed by the year.

Good example: Sayako was born in January 1982.

Bad examples: Sayako was born in 1982-Jan. Sayako was born in Jan 1982.

Situation 2: Referencing a year and month as data. Year, dash, and abbreviated month

Good example: Birthdate: 1982-Jan

Bad examples: Birthdate: Jan 1982, January 1982, 1982 January

Year, month, and day

Situation 1: Referencing the date in a complete sentence. Use either Day Month Year, or Month, Day Year. The original major contributor of the chooses what format to use (see the Style disputes section.) At the same time, however, other editors have no right to change the format to his/her preferred liking. In any situation, do not use ordinal suffixes (ex: February 14th) or articles (ex: the 14th of February). Also, once a date format is chosen, it must be used throughout the article.

Good examples: Sayako was born on 9 January 1982. Sayako was born on January 9, 1982.

Bad examples: Sayako was born on 1982-Jan-9. Sayako was born on 1982-1-9.

Situation 2: Referencing the date as data. Use the format Year-Month-Day for all dates. Abbreviate the month.

Good example: Birthdate: 1982-Jan-9

Bad examples: Birthdate: 9 January 1982. Birthdate: January 9, 1982.

In the profile section of artist pages it is recommended to use the {{birth date and age}} template.

Entering time

24-hour clock

12-hour clock

12:00

12:00 p.m. (noon)

13:00

1:00 p.m.

14:00

2:00 p.m.

15:00

3:00 p.m.

16:00

4:00 p.m.

17:00

5:00 p.m.

18:00

6:00 p.m.

19:00

7:00 p.m.

20:00

8:00 p.m.

21:00

9:00 p.m.

22:00

10:00 p.m.

23:00

11:00 p.m.

24:00

12:00 a.m. (midnight)

To avoid disagreements with time formatting, DramaWiki has set a standard when expressing time.

The DramaWiki standard is to write all times in 24-hour notation. Advantages to using 24-hour notation:

There is no possibility of ambiguity between times in the morning and evening (in the 12-hour system "seven o'clock" can mean both 7 am and 7 pm). In reading schedules and the like, it is easy to see at a glance whether times refer to before or after noon. This is especially important for organizations that run services 24 hours a day, including television networks.

Entries that use the 12-hour system usually show noon as 12:00 pm and midnight as 12:00 am — a convention which is ambiguous and therefore confuses many people. The workaround of writing "noon" or "12 midnight" requires more space, makes the notation language dependent, and still fails to distinguish between midnight at the start and at the end of a day.

The duration of time intervals is easier to see in the 24-hour notation. From 10:30 a.m. till 3:30 p.m. is 5 hours. From 10:30 till 15:30 indicates this more clearly.

The 24-hour notation is shorter, which can save space in tables.

The 12-hour notation obscures the fact that the date changes between 11:59 p.m. and 12:00 a.m., which regularly confuses people who program their video recorder. The transition from 23:59 to 00:00, on the other hand, provides a clear reminder that a new date starts.

When expressing time in terms of scheduling, always use the time zone of origin. For example, when listing air times for a Japanese TV drama, all times should be written using Japan Standard Time (JST). It is also important to enter the abbreviation for the time zone. For example, 19:00 in Japan should be entered as 19:00 JST.

If a TV show time period runs into the next day, it is best to use 24:00 for 12:00 midnight. For example, some TV shows start at 11:54pm and ends at 12:54am. To prevent further confusion, editors should write it as 23:54 to 24:54.

It is quite easy to calculate 24-hour time in your head. Any time from 1:00pm to midnight, just subtract two from the hour. For example, 13:00 is 13 minus 2, or 1:00. 19:00 is 19 minus 2, or 7:00pm.

Conversion of Showa dates

In Japanese-written documents, you may come across dates using the 昭和 (Showa) format. Showa is the period of 1926 to 1989, when Emperor Showa ruled Japan (also known as Emperor Hirohito before his death). Older generations of Japanese people continue to use this form of dating, including NHK, as a show of respect.

Conversion is very easy. For example, 昭和42年2月22日 is written as February 22, Showa 42. Add 42 to 1925, and you get 1967. The date then becomes February 22, 1967.

Conversion of Republic Year dates

Many calendar dates in the Republic of China (Taiwan) use the Republic Year (民國). These dates may sometimes be found without the Republic Year prefix (民國95年1月23日 or just 95年1月23日). The Republic Year calendar begins on 1911, the year when the Republic of China was established.

Conversion of Republic Years is done by adding 1911 to the year. For example, 民國95年1月23日 (Republic Year 95 January 23) will become 2006 January 23.

Imagery

DramaWiki is based on the MediaWiki software and requires all images to be uploaded first. Once uploaded, they can be used in articles. DramaWiki does not support displaying external images within articles. This is for safety reasons because the MediaWiki software has no control over externally linked content. To ensure certain quality standards, e.g. proper formatting and sizing of the images, all files have to pass an upload process. Also during this process you MUST affirm that the image you upload and use is not copyrighted.

Original imagery is preferred

The goal of DramaWiki is to keep all content as original as possible. This goal affects all components: the synopses, imagery, reviews, and so forth. Regarding imagery, DramaWiki prefers original artwork over those taken from other web sites. If an editor does not have the Photoshop skills necessary to produce an original image, that does not mean the uploaded image is preferred over a home-made, DramaWiki original image. Also, do not take this as a full-on ban of copyrighted imagery. DramaWiki does allow copyrighted imagery IF it is the only thing available at the time of uploading. DramaWiki assumes fair-use of all imagery. The drawback of using copyrighted imagery, however, is that if the copyright owner or licensee demands the image be taken down, DramaWiki will comply.

If you do choose to use a copyrighted image, or other imagery from another source, clean the image of all unnecessary clutter, such as dates & times, copyright symbols and watermarks. If you need assistance in cleaning an image, DramaWiki recommends you contact an editor who is familiar with graphic tools via that editor's talk page.

Guidelines on image selection and usage

The age of the image is not an issue with DramaWiki. The primary objective is formatting compliance with DramaWiki standards. For example, if a photo is from 2003, and no more recent photo that satisfies DramaWiki standards can be found, then the 2003 photo is kept. This is to protect imagery from being overtaken by fanboys/girls where photos would be replaced every time, for example a hair style is changed.

Crop images prior to uploading. Apply some artistic sense when working with images. For example, it is better to focus on a person's face than to display the entire body.

For images used in artist articles, the entire head, along with the full face should be viewable. Focus on images where the parts of the face is not covered up, such as hair covering up the person's eye, or the person is wearing sunglasses, a hat or an eyepatch (unless, of course, these items are actually a part of the artist's persona.)

Images should be sharp and in-focus. Avoid images that are badly colored and bitty, such as amateur scans from a magazine.

Attempt to edit the image to a useful size before uploading to DramaWiki. Remove (crop) all unwanted parts and resize the image to avoid uploading unecessary large files. Refer to Wikipedia:Preparing images for upload for more detailed technical help.

Avoid uploading of images that contain copyright or trademark symbols, watermarks containing the web site domain name or other name, or other markings not a part of the photo's theme (talent agency names, web site URLs, and other markings left due to cropping, etc.) Here's a big hint: If the image contains any web site name markings or other logo, the creator of that image does not want it to be used elsewhere. Respect these markings by not uploading and using them on DramaWiki.

If the owner of the image requests the image to be removed, please do so. Technically, it is illegal to upload copyrighted images to DramaWiki. DramaWiki leaves the declaration of licensing purely up to the uploader.

Examples

Good!

On the left photo, her face takes up more of the photo's space. It isn't "posey" like the image to the right, where her head is tilted with her hand on her face, with the "aren't I cute?" look. Also notice that the photo to the right has far too much hair, wasting even more space that could be occupied by the face. Although the background in the left image is somewhat busy, the head is large enough so that the background does not interfere.

BAD!

Good!

The photo on the right has a background that blends in too much into the foreground. The image to the left has a lighter background that allows for the foreground to present more of itself. Also, the quality of the image on the right is too grainy - clearly a bad scan from a magazine. The photo on the left is much cleaner.

BAD!

Good!

The image on the left - the head placement is great. The nose is close the middle of the image. Head is straight, with the eyes aligned. The artist is also smiling and happy, as he should be since he's making a living doing something he loves. The image on the right - Much too serious in the facial expression. The face is too small - need to crop more of the portion from the neck-down out. But even if cropped, the shadow in the back of the head also blends too much into the left side of the head.

BAD!

Naming

Filenames on all images should be properly chosen. A good rule-of-thumb is to use the article name as the filename, along with some form of indication as to the type of image. Good names in filenames help identify the content of the image without having to open the image.

As fellow editors, if you see a badly named image, you can correct it by moving the image, much like if you were changing the name of an article.

Placement

When placing images in an article, apply some web page design sense. Do not allow the image to take up too much of the screen. Try keeping the article's formatting so that it will look presentable when displayed in a 800x600 display. A good rule-of-thumb is to keep all artist images at a maximum size of 200px, and drama banners at or under 300px.

Replacing Images

Remember that DramaWiki is not an image gallery. The image on an artist page for example should help the readers to assign a face to a name. So, as long as the artist is clearly recognizable there is no need to replace the artist's photo with new one.

Generally, images used on DramaWiki should be replaced only if they do not satisfy our quality standards or if they are of technically low quality. Images with information given on their description pages should only be overwritten with an edited version and never with a completely different image. If a replaced image becomes unused then it should be marked for deletion.

Establishing credibility

Treat DramaWiki as if it was a very large school research paper. Once again, credibility is vital when presenting information to the general public. Editors must learn that what is written on DramaWiki must never reflect a personal point of view (PPOV). The problem with PPOV is that it goes against what DramaWiki stands for: presentation of information from a neutral point of view (NPOV). Jimbo Wales, founder of Wikipedia defines NPOV as "absolute and non-negotiable."

Fancruft

Regarding Asian dramas and artists, it is obviously difficult to keep a NPOV in one's writings. The basis of entertainment are the fans; fans will always have a PPOV. The word fan (short for the word fanatic) refers to someone who has an intense, occassionally overwhelming liking of a person, group of persons, or a artistic work like TV dramas.

Fans are also DramaWiki editors. And most editors are able to keep a NPOV on all written content. However, there are also the fanboy/fangirl editors that have a difficult time keeping a NPOV. This is where the editors with a more neutral outlook of the overall activities have to jump in; editors need to be aggressive and control the fanboy/fangirl editors from turning DramaWiki articles into fansites. A fansite is a web-based page created and maintained by the fans or devotees interested in the subject matter of the page. Fansites offer specialized information on the subject, usually to the extreme level, such as likes/dislikes, desires, opinions on political issues, and so on. Wikipedia uses the term fancruft to describe content that an editor finds to be of importance to an article even though the content itself is of importance only to a niche group of fans. The practice of fancrufting is not wanted on DramaWiki because, with all due respect, the information by definition does not hold a NPOV, nor does the information convey any value to the artist or TV drama under DramaWiki's objective.

DramaWiki is not a fansite hosting a collection of fan-based articles; existing fansites serve a purpose, and they serve the purpose well. Let these sites provide fan-like information, and keep DramaWiki from becoming a fansite.

Credible sources

The challenge DramaWiki editors face is delivering information to the general public, but still retain a NPOV. NPOV can be established quite easily. To start off, all information on DramaWiki is second-hand. Therefore, information written in an article must have come from somewhere - written in a publication such as magazine or website, aired on TV, or some other source.

Sources can be broken down into two groups: primary and secondary. A primary source is the TV drama or artist. It can also be the TV network or talent agency's website. A secondary source feeds off the primary source and reports the information to the general public. Quickly, DramaWiki is not a primary source, and nor are its editors. DramaWiki and its editors will always be secondary sources, and all articles are put together from primary or other secondary sources.

For example, an editor attends an artist's wedding. Under DramaWiki's policies the editor is not allowed to report the information in the artist's article because the editor witnessed the event first-hand, therefore becoming a primary source. However, if a magazine with established credibility later on published the information, then the information can be reported on DramaWiki.

There are credible sources, and then there are sources with some form of an agenda. Once an editor understands the distinction between the two, it is very easy to evaluate any source and determine whether the information is credible or not. Using basic research paper techniques, credible sources under DramaWiki are those that have a solid and well-known establishment in the Asian entertainment business. Credible sources include:

All television network websites

Established news sites

Talent agencies

On the other hand, sources that DramaWiki finds not credible and usually hold some form of an agenda include:

Fansites and fanzines - Objective is always to present the person or TV drama in a positive light, aka PPOV.

"Bottom feeders", aka "I heard from a friend who heard from her cousin..."

A good rule-of-thumb: If one source is reporting the information, while the other sources are not, more likely that one source is not credible. And therefore, the information is not allowed on DramaWiki.

Citing the source

When editors write information on DramaWiki, it is important to cite the source of the information. Citing a source is the act of identifying the original source of the information. This allows for the reader to understand where the information came from so that the reader can make his/her own judgement whether the information is credible or not. DramaWiki must again and again prove to the reader than any information provided is accurate and verified.

DramaWiki is not requiring every tidbit of information to be cited. For example, when constructing information under the Details section of a TV drama article, using information posted on a TV network website, the TV network website does not have to be cited in the article. However, the editor should not create a TV drama based purely on a secondary source, while the primary source (the TV network in this case) hasn't mentioned anything about it. It is important that the editors not only duplicate information from secondary sources, but also perform follow-up research to establish the fact that the information is indeed accurate.

There are, however, other kinds of information within an article that must be cited - even if it's just an act of common courtesy. For example, a synopsis or review should be cited. If the editor wrote the information first-hand, he should place his signature at the end. But once again, make sure these synopsss and reviews are written under a NPOV.

And then there are information that are objective. Objective information must be cited. Statistics are objective pieces of information. If there are any statistical information, such as TV viewership ratings, it must be cited. Citing statistics is very important because, as statisticians would tell you, you can process numbers to fulfil any agenda. Especially with viewership ratings, they come from several firms. Even TV networks use their own internal ratings systems. This is why it is very important that the reader understands how these statistics were developed.

Hyperlinking

Wikilinks over external hyperlinking

Hyperlinking is the most powerful tool on the Internet. Hyperlinking is what created the on-line environment we all know as the world wide web. Unfortunately, there are pages on the Internet that, for all intents and purposes, DramaWiki would like to avoid. Just like citing and verifying written material, hyperlinking must maintain the same level of integrity and credibility. Hyperlinking creates associations between the hyperlinker and the hyperlinked.

There are two methods of hyperlinking within the wikitext system: wikilink and external hyperlink. For more information on how to use the wikitext markup language regarding linking, please consult the MediaWiki documentation.

A wikilink is a hyperlink within the wiki system. DramaWiki encourages editors to use wikilinks over external hyperlinking because wikilinks are scalable, while external hyperlinks are static. For example, let's say editors were using external hyperlinking for resources within Wikipedia. And then one day, Wikipedia changes its domain name. All the external hyperlinks would then have to be changed. By using wikilinks, only one change needs be made within the DramaWiki's configuration settings.

What hyperlinks are allowed and not allowed

Briefly, DramaWiki does not allow external hyperlinking to the following sources:

Fansites - These types of sites do not maintain the NPOV (neutral point of view) DramaWiki believe in. Associating DramaWiki with fansites causes a loss of credibility. Linking to fansites can also get out of control, as link spamming is a common practice among some editors, where they flood DramaWiki with their web site links in order to gain strength in the PageRank and other search engine point systems. Fansites include (but not limited to): forums, blogs, etc.

Idol sites - These are sites that maintain a database of idol photos and fan-based information. Same NPOV and link spamming reason. In addition, many of these idol sites contain material that are offensive to some DramaWiki visitors. DramaWiki does not want to associate itself with this type of material.

Hyperlinking to a web site not specific to the subject matter (artist or TV drama) - For example, it is okay to hyperlink a specific artist page on JDorama or Soompi. What DramaWiki does not want is a hyperlink to the root of those sites - or any site for that matter. Again, this is a method of link spamming.

Direct-download sites - DramaWiki does not endorse the use of hyperlinking to direct-downloading sites. Direct-download are web sites that warehouse small to large media files, such as music, motion video, photobooks, and so forth. DramaWiki does not want to associate itself with the direct-downloading practice.

Hyperlinking to torrents - DramaWiki is associated with D-Addicts. D-Addicts does not want its torrents to be directly hyperlinked. DramaWiki wishes to follow suite not only for D-Addicts, but also to give the same common courtesy to all peer-to-peer sites.

Hyperlinking to streaming sites, or to sites that host links to streaming sites. As a torrent hosting site, D-Addicts takes an anti-streaming stance.

Links to for-sale merchandise, i.e. electronic commerce or e-commerce sites. e-commerce sites are those who are designed specifically for the sale of media to customers. These sites either license/produce DVDs as finished goods, or are set-up as retail outlets. Sites that are considered e-commerce include but are not limited to: YesAsia, CDJapan, Amazon, YA Entertainment, etc. TV network sites are not e-commerce sites seeing they are the primary producers of the works. DramaWiki is purely an information database, and should not be used to endorse products for any drama or artist.

Any other material that 1) can be found offensive by a minority of DramaWiki readers, 2) does not maintain a NPOV, and 3) other material DramaWiki does not to associate itself with.

On the other hand, DramaWiki does allow external hyperlinking to the following sources:

Well-established news sources - These include sites that consistenly maintain a NPOV.

Links to primary sources - Sources include TV network and talent agency sites. But make sure hyperlinks are pointing to a specific page within these sites, rather than the root of the sites.

Talent agency and TV network-sponsored sites - They can include blogs and such. Limit links to one link per domain name; what DramaWiki does not want are eight links to the same domain name (ex: one for the drama itself, one for a wallpaper gallery, one for an episode synopsis, etc.)

List of trusted external secondary sources

Below is a partial list of secondary sources outside of DramaWiki it finds to be trusted. The list is very incomplete; all other external sites should be verified on a case-by-case basis. EDITORS: please do not add additional sources to this list.

JDorama.comLink - (Japanese) JDorama.com is the sister web site of D-Addicts. There is deep history between the two sites; D-Addicts is a spin-off of JDorama.com, and the pre-opening phase of D-Addicts was conducted on JDorama.com.

The Internet Movie DatabaseLink - (All) This site hosts a database of many Eastern Asian works. Watch what you use off IMDB, as much of the romanization is not accurate or fits DramaWiki conventions, as well as verification of its information. Still, it is a reliable secondary source.

For all other secondary sources outside of the above list, please screen for NPOV before linking.

Using wikilinks and hyperlinks in TV show and cast listings

In short, it is preferred that all TV show and cast listings links point only to other DramaWiki articles by use of wikilinks. Do not link to sources outside of DramaWiki, such as Wikipedia.

Some editors believe that by pointing a listing to an external source, it will help that one editor who will use the link as a source when making an article on DramaWiki. Actually, the opposite occurs: no one will have the inspiration to create an article for DramaWiki since a link to a source is already provided.

Another problem is that some editors have a hard time distinguishing the different shades of blue used to differentiate between a wikilink pointing to a DramaWiki and a wikilink pointing to Wikipedia. By leaving the wikilink as a DramaWiki link, the link will have a red color, allowing other editors to pick up on the needed article.

The maintenance tools within MediaWiki include reports that show what articles are needed; it wouldn't be able to produce these reports if the wikilinks and hyperlinks were pointing to sources outside of DramaWiki.

Hyperlinking better than plagiarism

Plagiarism is unethical. There is a belief among some editors that plagiarism is okay on the Internet seeing information is free. This is far from the truth. Although information is indeed free, it does not give the editor a right to copy the information word-for-word and post it on DramaWiki. Even if the information is cited, the original author loses access of the writing once it is published on DramaWiki. As an editor, it is important for the editor to guarantee that all rights to a work is maintained by the original author.

Of course, an editor can seek permission to use published information from a given source. For example, J!ENT obtained permission from Wm. Penn to use her writings for its web site. This seem to be too much effort on the part of the editor. Instead, DramaWiki encourages all editors to create an external hyperlink to the published material, rather than copy/paste the material into DramaWiki itself. This gives the original author full control of the work without having to join DramaWiki.

Re-use of your works from other web sites

DramaWiki realizes that editors of DramaWiki also contribute to other wiki's, such as Wikipedia, among others. There are, however, challenges that make tracking of possible plagiarism quite difficult. Whenever an editor enters a large portion of text into an article, it is natural for another editor to verify via search engines whether or not the entry was plagiarized.

The best way to approach this issue is not to copy entries word-for-word from another web site to DramaWiki - regardless of whether or not you actually wrote the entry yourself. DramaWiki prides itself on hosting originally written material. Even if the sources are cited, it gives people an impression that DramaWiki can't write for itself, and must copy material from other sites.

If, however, you do copy your originally written synopses, biographies, etc. from another source, you must prove to DramaWiki that you are indeed the person at the other source. The problem is that DramaWiki must be able to verify your claim to the content at the other source; the burden of proof of identity is on you. There are several ways to prove your identity. One way is to place a statement somewhere on the page of the original source, stating something along the line that you personally wrote the text.

If you use an alias on DramaWiki that is different from the original source, you must provide proof that you are indeed the same person. The best way to establish proof of AKAs is to enter the AKAs into your profile on the other source, and then hyperlink to that profile on your DramaWiki user page. When an editor then questions plagiarism, he will check your user page on DramaWiki to see if you did indeed verify your AKA.

Tables

As a general rule-of-thumb, tables should be avoided unless the presentation of certain material deems it necessary. The table is the most difficult feature of wikitext to master, and the element that is the most mis-used. It takes quite a bit of time to get a table to work. Once the table is created, it is very cryptic, making it difficult for other editors to make additions, edit, or remove elements of a table. The idea behind wikitext is to make editing easy for non-scripting folks. Tables in wikitext make articles more difficult to edit.

When an editor chooses to use a table, he should think about it carefully before going forward. As mentioned earlier in another article, there are more effective methods for presenting information that is easy to scan. Bullet lists, for example, have been proven to be quite effective - even for the fastest of scanners. Bullet lists work well in situations where there are a number of points that need to be made. Numbered lists are also just as effective, just as long as the numbers actually have some form of relationship with the information.

Tables work when there is at least one primary concept, and two or more secondary concepts that link to the primary. For example, an episode listing containing the episode number, episode title, viewership rating, and guest list would work very will in a table structure. The episode number is the primary concept, and all the other information are secondary to the episode number. With this idea in mind, the table would look like the following:

Episode listing

Episode

Episode title

Guest list

Episode rating

1

Rain in Spain

Joe Blow, Len A. Dollar, Glenn Miyashiro

12.1

2

Mmmmm... Good!

George W. Bush

13.7

The last thing an editor should do is use tables purely for formatting of the article itself. This works well in HTML, but not in wikitext. Keep in mind that the more complex the table becomes, the more difficult it is for a reader to scan, and the more difficult it will be for other editors to work with.

Currency

Referencing currency

There are situations where references are made to measurements of currency, such as an artist's salary, or the cost of producing a show. When referencing currency, use the original currency value. Do not convert the value of the currency to another currency format (ex: yen to british pounds). It is also preferred that editors use the latinized symbols for the currencies rather than the UTF-8 based symbols. Last, it is important to avoid ambiguities when entering currency values where the symbol used is identical to other currencies (ex: US dollar ($) and Canadian dollar ($)) Therefore, it is important to use the latinized symbol along with the currency code, standardized as ISO 4217.

Good examples of currency:

JPY¥1,000

KOR₩1,000

CNY¥1,000

US$1,000

C$1,000

Referencing currency conversions

Conversions can be made into other currencies that are more familiar to most readers, such as the euro or United States dollar. Conversions should be in parentheses after the original currency, with the year given as a rough point of reference. And, always round the converted value to the nearest whole number.
Good examples: